Go to Related Reading
About this book

Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 20

1 The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it. 2 At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot.⁠ 3 Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, both young and old. They will be in undergarments and barefoot, with the buttocks exposed; the Egyptians will be publicly humiliated. 5 Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed. 6 At that time those who live on this coast will say, ‘Look what has happened to our source of hope to whom we fled for help, expecting to be rescued from the king of Assyria! How can we escape now?’”

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 20:2 and 2 Samuel 15:30

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

The Hebrew word for barefoot is rare, used of only a few figures including David and Isaiah. David climbs the Mount of Olives barefoot while fleeing his son in grief, while Isaiah goes barefoot deliberately to act out the coming captivity.

Passages

Isaiah 20:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord revealed the following message during the year in which King Sargon of Assyria sent his commanding general to Ashdod, and he fought against it and captured it. 2 At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot. 3 Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush,
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

2 Samuel 15:30

Hebrew Bible
29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and remained there. 30 As David was going up the Mount of Olives, he was weeping as he went; his head was covered and his feet were bare. All the people who were with him also had their heads covered and were weeping as they went up. 31 Now David had been told, “Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O Lord.”
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Samuel

References

"... The word יחף is rare. Besides Isaiah 20, it only appears in 2 Samuel 15:30 and Jeremiah 2:25. In 2 Samuel 15:30, David walks up the Mount of Olives weeping, his head covered and his feet bare (because of Absalom's revolt). Here, walking barefoot appears in the context of mourning and thus as a rite of self-humiliation. ... The fact that the prophet walks around naked and barefoot evokes different levels of meaning and associations: It points to humiliation, loss, lack of protection, and grief, and, as we shall see, to war and captivity. ..."
Andrea Beyer, “Nudity and Captivity in Isa. 20 in Light of Iconographic Evidence,” in Clothing and Nudity in the Hebrew Bible, ed. Christoph Berner, Manuel Schäfer, Martin Schott, Sarah Schulz, and Martina Weingärtner (London: T&T Clark, 2019), 495.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Isaiah 20:2 and 2 Samuel 15:30

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library